Famous Visitors

English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War, especially “The Soldier”. He was also known for his boyish good looks, which were said to have prompted the Irish poet W. B. Yeats to describe him as “the handsomest young man in England”. Brooke made friends among the Bloomsbury group of writers, some of whom admired his talent while others were more impressed by his good looks. Virginia Woolf boasted to Vita Sackville-West of once going skinny-dipping with Brooke in a moonlit pool when they were in Cambridge together. Brooke belonged to another literary group known as the Georgian Poets and was one of the most important of the Dymock poets, associated with the Gloucestershire village of Dymock where he spent some time before the war. He also lived in the Old Vicarage, Grantchester.

Virginia Woolf

English writer and significant figure in London literary society. She was a central figure in the Bloomsbury Group. in the. Her most famous works include the novels “Mrs Dalloway”, “To the Lighthouse” and the essay “A Room of One’s with its famous dictum “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.”

Edward “E M” Forster

English novelist, short story writer, and essayist. Best known for “Howard’s End”, “A Room with a View” and “A Passage to India”.

Francis Crick

British molecular biologist, biophysicist and neuroscientist. Best known for co-discovering the structure of the DNA molecule with James Watson and Maurice Wilkins.

Alan Turing

Pioneering English computer scientist, mathematician logician cryptanalysis and theoretical biologist. Bletchley Park code breaker in World War II. He is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence Highly inflected influential in the development of theoretical computer science.

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the mind and language.

Alan “A A” Milne

English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh.

David “D H” Lawrence

English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter, best known for his novels “Sons and Lovers”, “Women in Love” and “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”.

James Watson

American molecular biologist, geneticist and zoologist. Best known for co-discovering the structure of the DNA molecule with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins.

George Bernard Shaw

Irish playwright, critic and polemicist. Shaw wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as “Pygmalion and “Saint Joan” and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Alfred “A N” Whitehead

British mathematician and philosopher. He is the defining figure of the philosophical school known as process philosophy. He co-authored Principia Mathematica with Bertrand Russell one of the 20th century’s most important works in mathematical logic.

Sylvia Plath

American poet, novelist and short-story writer.

Bertrand Russell

British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, social critic political activist and Nobel laureate. He co-authored Principia Mathematica with A N Whitehead, one of the 20th century’s most important works in mathematical logic.

John “J B” Priestley

English author, novelist, playwright, scriptwriter, social commentator, man of letters and broadcaster. Best known for The Good Companions and his moral boosting radio talks during the Battle of Britain

Ernest Rutherford

New Zealand physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics. He discovered the concept of radioactive half-life for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry. He conducted research that led to the first “splitting” of the atom. He discovered (and named) the proton.

Alfred “A E” Housman

English classical scholar classical and poet, best known for “A Shropshire Lad”, a collection of sixty-three poems.

John Maynard Keynes

British economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. He built on and greatly refined earlier work on the causes of business cycles, and is widely considered to be one of the most influential economists of the 20th century and the founder of modern macroeconomics. His ideas are the basis for the school of thought known as Keynesian economics and its various offshoots.

Henry James

American writer, best known for his novel “The Portrait of a Lady”.

Christopher Cockerell

English engineer, best known as the inventor of the hovercraft.

Edward “Ted” Hughes

English Poet Laureate and children’s writer. Was married to American poet Sylvia Plath.

Herbert “H G” Wells

English writer in many genres, including the novel, history, politics, and social commentary, and textbooks and rules for war games. Best remembered for his science fiction novels including “The Time Machine”, “The Invisible Man” and “War of the Worlds”.

George Mallory

English mountaineer who took part in the first three British expeditions to climb Mount Everest. Died trying to make the first ascent.

Pandit Nehru

First Prime Minister of India and a central figure in Indian politics before and after independence.

Lytton Strachey

British writer and critic. Founding member of the Bloomsbury Group. Best known for establishing a new form of biography in which psychological insight and sympathy are combined with irreverence and wit.

George “G M” Trevelyan

British historian academic and author. At one time very widely read the currently his work is out of academic favour.

The Cambridge Spy Ring

Comprised Anthony Blunt, Guy Burgess, John Cairncross, Donald Maclean and Kim Philby. They were recruited by the Soviet Union during World War II and actively passed secrets to the Russians at least into the early 1950s.

Salman Rushdie

British Indian novelist and essayist. Best known for his novels “Midnight’s Children” and “The Satanic Verses”, the latter resulting in Ayatollah Khomeini issuing a fatwa and calling for his assassination.

Stephen Hawking

English theoretical physicist, and cosmologist. Best known as author of “A Brief History of Time.

James “J G” Ballard

English novelist, short story writer and essayist.

Germaine Greer

Australian-born academic and writer. Best known as the author of “The Female Eunuch”.

Leslie Charteris

British-Chinese novelist and screenwriter. Best known for his “The Saint” books.

Robert Donat

English film and stage Academy Award winning actor. Best known for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps and Goodbye, Mr. Chips.

John Betjeman

English Poet Laureate, writer and broadcaster.

Lowes Dickinson

English portrait painter and photographer.

James Elroy Flecker

English poet, novelist and playwright.

Christopher Isherwood

English novelist and literary collaborator.

James Mason

English actor who became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars appearing in “A Star is Born”, North by Northwest, and “The Verdict.”

Frederik Raphael

American-born, British-educated, screenwriter, biographer, nonfiction writer, novelist and journalist. He won an Oscar for the screenplay for the movie “Darling” He also wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s, “Far From the Madding Crowd”.

Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle

English royal air force engineer air officer credited with single-handedly inventing the turbojet engine.

HRH King George VI

King of England

Sir Cecil Beaton

English fashion, portrait and war photographer. Academy Award winning stage and costume designer.

Lord Richard “RAB” Butler

British Conservative politician. Most famous for the Education Act 1944. Held several posts including, most notably, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister.

James Hilton

English novelist. Best remembered for “Lost Horizon” and “Goodbye, Mr Chips.”

Herbert Lom

Czech -born British film and television actor best known for his roles in “The Ladykiller’s” and as Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus, Inspector Clouseau’s superior in the “Pink Panther” films.

HRH Prince Charles

Future King of England

Viscount William “Willie” Whitelaw

British Conservative politician who served, most notably, as Home Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister.

Emma Thompson

British actress, comedian, and writer. She had won Academy Awards for her roles in “Howards End”, the Remains of the Day” and “In the name of the Father.”

Lord William Birkett QC

British barrister, judge, and politician who served during the Nuremberg Trials.

Sir Jonathan Miller

English theatre and opera director actor author television presenter humourist and medical doctor. Best known for appearing in the comedy revue beyond the French with fellow writers and performers Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.

HRH Prince Edward

Youngest son of HRH The Queen of England.

James “Jimmy” Edwards

English comedy writer and actor on radio and television. Best known as Pa Glum in Take It From Here and as “Professor” James Edwards in Whack-O!

Stephen Fry

English actor, comedian, author, journalist, broadcaster and film director.

Sir Norman Hartnell

British fashion designer. Best known for designing the Coronation gown for Elizabeth II and many other of her clothes.

Lord Douglas Hurd

British Conservative politician who held several posts include, most notably, Home Secretary Foreign Secretary and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

Peter May

Scottish television screenwriter, novelist, and award winning crime writer. Best known for writing the three books in “The Lewis Trilogy.

Gryff Rhys Jones

Welsh comedian, writer, actor and television presenter. Best known for his comedy partnership with Mel Smith in the television sketch shows “Not the Nine O’Clock News” and “Alas Smith and Jones”.

Lord Robert Alexander QC

British barrister, banker and conservative politician.

Tim Brooke Taylor

Comedy actor and writer. Best known as a member of The Goodies and as a panelist on I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue.

Peter Cooke

English actor, satirist, writer and comedian. Best known for his partnership with Dudley Moore and the weekly TV show “That Was the Week That Was”.

Gilbert Harding

English journalist and radio and television personality. Best known for his appearances on radio’s “Twenty Questions” and the television panel game “What’s my line?” .

Eric Idle

English comedian, actor, author, singer-songwriter, musician, and comedic composer. Best known as being a co-founder of Monty Python and author of the Broadway musical Spamalot.

Hugh Laurie

English actor, writer, director, musician, singer, comedian, and author. Best known for playing the role of Dr Gregory House in the television medical drama series “House”.

Lord David Owen

British politician who held the post of Foreign Secretary. He was a founder member of the Social Democratic Party.

Rt Rev Lord David Shephard

High-profile Bishop of Liverpool who played test cricket for England.

John Cleese

English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. Best known as a co-founder of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

Sir David Frost

English journalist, comedian, writer, and television presenter personality and television Best known for his television interviews with senior political figures, among them the interviews with President Richard Nixon.

Julio Iglesias

Spanish singer and songwriter who is one of the best-selling artists of all, and the best-selling Latin artist in history.

Chris Kelly

English television presenter, producer and writer.

William “Bill” Oddie

English writer, composer, musician, comedian, artist, ornithologist, conservationist and television presenter. He became famous as one The Goodies.

Lord Donald Soper

Methodist minister, socialist and pacifist.

Lord Jeffrey Archer

English author and conservative politician.

Kenneth Clarke

British Conservative Politician. Held several posts, including most notably, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and Lord Chancellor.

Graham Garden

British comedian, author, actor, artist and television presenter. Best known as a member of The Goodies.

Lord Geoffrey Howe

British Conservative politician who held several posts including, most notably, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Foreign Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister.

Alistair Cooke

British journalist and television broadcaster. Best known for his radio show Letter from America.

Sir David Attenborough

British broadcaster, naturalist and conservationist.

Bamber Gascoigne

British television presenter and author, best known for being the original quizmaster on University Challenge.

Dame Mary Archer

British scientist. Fellow of Newnham College.

Clive James

Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet, translator and memoirist. Best known for his chat shows and documentaries on British television.